Student society Vindicat receives ‘last warning’

Groningen student society Vindicat has been given a final warning from a committee looking at a proposed ‘mentality change’ at the club, reports NU.nl.

It has permission to function for another year under strict conditions, reports the Dagblad van het Noorden on Friday.

This means that initiation of new members can begin in several weeks, the paper says, but afterwards its conduct will be evaluated.

The Sitalsing commission, set up by the municipal council and University of Groningen, gave Vindicat a bare pass for fulfilling its conditions.

But the society has been under fire several times in the past year after incidents such as an older student standing on the head of a new recruit, causing a serious head injury. There were also reports of listing women according to their ‘beddability’.

The student club has been given a year to comply with a strict code of conduct, demanding that half of supervisors must be sober during the ‘introduction camp’ and reports be made of any incidents such as sexual intimidation, humiliation or physical violence, adds NOS.

The committee did, however, find that Vindicat is willing to change – something that Groningen university and Hanzehogeschool strongly support.